Katy Perry will guest star on How I Met Your Mother next week—just in case you hadn't already heard. She's rumored to play a love interest of Ted's, yet in all of the publicity stills is with NPH.

What gives? Obviously Neil Patrick Harris is the more enigmatic of the two actors, so perhaps the CBS execs paired the two together for ratings. Or perhaps Barney just likes brunettes (see: Robin.) Either way, let's all hope and pray that Katy Perry's appearance is better than Britney Spears' turn on the show.